Ultrasound of the Lungs: More than a Room with a View

Lung ultrasound B-lines are the sonographic pattern of partial deaeration of the lung. In patients with pulmonary edema they are detected as multiple, diffuse, and bilateral, by placing the ultrasound probe in the intercostal spaces. B-lines can be used for bedside monitoring of pulmonary decongestion, and can guide diuretic therapy. Persistent pulmonary congestion after hospitalization for acute heart failure increases the risk of being rehospitalized in the following months. Adding B-lines assessment to echocardiography in an integrated cardiopulmonary ultrasound is of great value in establishing the kind and degree of myocardial and valvular impairment, and their hemodynamic consequences as pulmonary edema.